The Lazyman...

Each year our YMCA holds what they call the Lazyman Triathlon. It is based on the Ironman Triathlon and one covers the distances of the Ironman but over the course of six weeks. (115 miles of biking, 26.2 miles of running and 2.4 miles of swimming) Hence it being termed lazyman and one can walk, climb the elliptical machine or use a rowing machine as well.

I did not participate last year but in the spirit of my "exercise everyday" goal for 2012 I planned to do it this year. I run and bike anyway so I would only be adding the swimming or rowing. What I didn't realize was the distance for the rowing was 12.5 miles versus the 2.5 miles of swimming. 

I began the triathlon on June 15th. The first week I ran a little and biked a little. No swimming. The second week we were on vacation so I counted the walking we did (although not all of it as I wasn't sure how much we did!) and the bike ride we took. Again, no swimming. So once we returned from vacation it was time to kick everything in gear so I could reach all the mileage. 

As I mentioned I bike and run regularly so those were not activities I was concerned with. The swimming on the other hand was going to be my challenge and for a number of reasons. I can swim; but I don't enjoy it. I don't like getting my face wet. I am a nose plugger when under water so I'm not good at the "face in the water turn your head and take a breath" thing. And I hate washing my hair which becomes a necessity once it gets wet with chlorine. So the odds were stacked against me. Well, my own odds! But I jumped in the pool anyway. 

After flailing around for the first lap I came to the conclusion that I would need to resort to the good ol' elementary backstroke. My face is out of the water so I can breath the whole time and I'm not flailing and splashing all over the place! The first day I swam 8 laps and thought my arms were going to fall off. Fortunately all the exercise I get paid off and my muscles adapted pretty quickly. The next time in the pool I was able to do 20 laps and after that. So now I only have about 19 left! And I've found that swimming can be somewhat relaxing. At least the way I do it.

So as of today I am down to 4.7 miles of running and 16.56 miles of biking. All of which I will be able to finish up this week; a week ahead of schedule! 

Another reason I decided to do the Lazyman was to make up for not doing any races in June, July or August. I do not like to run in the heat and have mostly gone back to the treadmill to avoid it. I don't mind biking when it's hot running in the heat makes me sick. I've also upped my running to 2 miles almost everyday with a couple longer runs when I can fit them in. This is in preparation of a duathlon that I am thinking about doing in September.